It's the Little Things

Have you ever been to a situation where you lost the motivation to ever go back to your work? You thought that there are better things to do than bore yourself to death in doing things repetitively every waking day? Have you ever felt worthless and unproductive because your workplace is not actually a place where there is work to be done?

For the past three months, I’ve been working as Philhealth CARES nurse. The job is quite easy especially when my hospital assignment has patients I can count on my fingers. I wake up early in the morning, travel for an hour or less, report to my superiors then go straight to my “improvised office.” At first, I just wait for clients to come to me but as time passed by, I realized I could really not be of much help if I continue doing that. So, I started making “rounds” wherein I visit the clients in their rooms and disseminate information. I usually finish doing this in the morning for it only takes an hour or two to visit all admissions. Then in the afternoon, if no one gets admitted and nobody comes to the ER/OPD for check up, I just sit in my office, stare at the clock and patiently wait until its little hand points to 5 and the big one to 12. 5:00pm=time to go home. Sometimes I think, is this really what I want to do?

In the first hospital where I was deployed, I was able to help a lot of clients. That, I can say, was a REAL accomplishment. Last month, I have talked to a handful of clients and I guess, that was really all I could do because they were the only people in that hospital. I cannot shout outside the hospital to get by-passers’ ears to listen to me, can I? I cannot pray for more clients either because it was like praying for more people to get sick and be admitted in the hospital. Baby that’s bad. Argh.

Whenever I was in my office, breathing in and out, staring at the clock that seemed to be in slow motion everytime, reading a book or whatever I could do to ease boredom, I also think if I could still do the same things over and over again for the days to come. It’s boring. Really. And boredom sucks whatever little energy I have to stretch my arms in the morning, fight the urge to go back to sleep and prepare for work.

So, why am I writing all of these? It’s been a week since I was deployed in my third hospital assignment and God it’s even more benign here than the last one! On my first day, I didn’t know where I would literally place myself because 1.) the ER is small and there’s no place for me to stay, 2.) the lobby is used as a clinic and 3.) I am not allowed to be inside the admin office. It’s good that the people here are nice enough to provide me a custom-made table that would fit in one corner of their ER.

The first two days were boring (forgive me for repeating this over and over again) and it became even harder for me to get up in the morning. However, during one of my rounds, there was this client whose case was complicated and they badly need help in understanding how they could use their Philhealth benefits. I really took the time and effort to explain everything they need to know to maximize their benefits. After he affirmed that he already understood it, he thanked me. He said I was really of great help to them. He stood up and gave me two special mamons as a sign of thank you. I was hesitant to accept the ‘gift’ but he insisted and it would be rude of me if I still refuse. Right? :p I was deeply touched.

As I went downstairs back to my lone office, I thought, maybe, it’s these little things that would keep me going. These few people that I could be of help are enough to keep me motivated. Informing ‘some’ is way better than informing ‘none.’

Looking forward to happier working days. Aja!

Like our posts? Don't miss out on the latest updates! Subscribe via email:

17
lovely comments Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ:

And you're feeling the same way, eh? Don't worry, you are not alone. I don't know. Though it is easy, I get tired of doing the same thing repetitively. It's not that I loathe the job, (am really thankful for it) but once we're deployed, we get stagnant, as nurses, maybe?

There was even a time where I'm just at the bed, staring at the ceiling, and thinking if I'm going to go to work. Haha.. There was also a time when I just wanted to give up and go back to becoming a nurse.

I hope we will find ways (in the future) that will make us love our job more. Job satisfaction, ika nga nila. And I'm not losing hope, we will find one.

Ahaha. Fellow nurse. That's fine. Work is sporadic. Sometimes we become toxic, sometimes we are so relaxed and the work of a nurse is unpredictable because we don't know when patients will come to seek our service :)

Boredom really kills, but before it kills you, kill it first. You were already doing fine doing rounds from your previous hospital, why not do it again with this next hospital, as you've said, "some" is better than "none".

Repetition indeed becomes boring. However, if there is passion and deeper sense of what you are doing you can minimize this boredom. But from time to time allow this feeling to engulf you at least in that moments you may find some great ways to solve this.

hmmm, sometimes, work is really boring, you just need to relax when boredom presents itself. it's good that you're starting slow. you might get assigned to a bigger hospital in the future, i'm sure you won't get bored there. your job, by the way, is really very helpful. just keep on doing what you're doing. =)